Wireless Enhanced Myoelectric Control to Improve Upper Extremity Amputee Ability

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Wireless Enhanced Myoelectric Control to Improve Upper Extremity Amputee Ability ABSTRACT The overall goal of our research program is to enable upper extremity amputees to be productive and independent. For these individuals, one of the most promising developments in the past decade has been the introduction of fully dexterous terminal devices. However, an effective and intuitive control strategy has remained elusive. Myoelectric control works well for one or two degree-of-freedom devices, but is not effective when dealing with a large number of movement classes (such as when attempting to discriminate amongst hand open , index finger point , fine pinch , and so on). Thus there is a need for a strategy to allow amputees to achieve a very high degree-of-freedom hand control, to the level that they can accomplish complex tasks of daily living and working. We now propose the development and validation of morph2.0, the Myoelectrically-Operated RFID Prosthetic Hand. mor